Czech Parliament Strips Billionaire Premier of His Immunity
- Police seek to charge Babis over alleged misuse of EU funds
- Premier Babis says case is fabricated by his political rivals
Andrej Babis
Photographer: Martin Divisek/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Czech lawmakers stripped Prime Minister Andrej Babis of his immunity to let prosecutors renew fraud charges in a case that has hamstrung the billionaire’s efforts to create a government after his euroskeptic party ANO dominated last year’s elections.
Babis, who rejects allegations of wrongdoing in the case of suspected misuse of European Union funds by a company he once owned, denounced the charges on Friday as an organized attempt to torpedo his political career. Still, he and one of his executives who is also a senior member of his ANO party asked parliament to lift their protection from prosecution before a parliamentary vote made it official.